"You're not the only one with a gun, bitch."

It's official... I've jumped on the "Avatar" band wagon. Thinking back, I can't remember a sci-fi/action movie that lived up to all of the expectations quite like Avatar does. I left completely satisfied and more... not only was it entertaining and visually stunning, it carried an amazing message, which is fairly uncommon for a hollywood pic of it's budget and genre.

Granted it did have it's flaws. Let's start with those.

First off, Sam Worthington (Jake) REALLY needs to work on his American accent. His Australian roots were constantly betrayed, and while I do tend to be a stickler about accents, it was actually somewhat distracting for me. His acting, along with the rest of the characters was mediocre but it didn't really matter. Ironically, I thought his acting was better and more believable when he was his Avatar character than when he was just himself.

Before seeing the movie I had heard some complaints that the plot was too simple and too obvious. Yes... the plot is fairly simple in it's basic components but that's what makes it so good. The simple plot and ultimate goal is fairly simple which allows for a lot of detail to go into telling each little part... hence the 3 hours. The simple plot allowed for the huge underlying message to shine through. Without the film's message (which I'm not really going to get into just go see the movie), it would have been just another sci-fi alien movie that cost way too much money to make. But thankfully, it is a movie with a point that makes the point in a very visual way.

Most people probably went to see "Avatar" for the special effects. If just for that reason, they definitely got their monies worth. The world that Cameron and his grew created is absolutely phenomenal. Now, a few days ago, a friend of mine, who had already seen it, pointed out that in many of his design classes they talk about creating a visual style that while maybe not "realistic" in the sense that you think it actually exists, it's cohesiveness and vision makes it believable. This is completely true for "Avatar." No, I do not think that this world or these blue people actually exist and yes they do look rather ridiculous at times. However, the world and the characters that were created to live in that world are completely, 100% believable.

One thing I found really interesting was the film's negative look at the American military. The military is totally the bad guy which rarely occurs in the movies, especially in billion dollar blockbusters. While it may be a little exaggerated, the point the film is making I think is a valid one and one that needs to be considered.

I hope that when people see "Avatar," that they leave the theater thinking wow, what happened to those people was terrible, I get the connection to real life, I get that this travesty, while maybe not with blue cat people, could definitely happen again and I'm not going to allow that to happen. I feel like this movie is a rare opportunity for people to be really changed and morally challenged by a hollywood blockbuster and I hope that viewers appreciate it for that and just the cool effects. (4.8 out of 5)